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National Airlines
''This article is about the airline based in the United States National Airlines Inc. ("National"; NYSE: NAT) (commonly referred to simply as "National") is an American Major Airline headquartered in Houston, Texas. The airline along with its subsidiaries operate over 2,200 flights daily and serve an extensive domestic and international network that includes 334 destinations in 64 countries on six continents, as of May 2017.5 National is a member of the Global Alliance, and operates joint ventures with: Belgian Airlines, French Airways, Shannon Air and China Western, among others.5 Regional service is operated under the brand name National Connection. National is the eighth-oldest operating airline by foundation date, and the third oldest airline still operating in the United States. History National Airlines was created as an air carrier to transport wounded solders out of battle zones during WWII. Founded by Gustave St. Wellington II Jr, National Airlines used Cleveland Airport to get the planes full of supplies and New York as a gateway to drop off people on the way back. Originally based in Liverpool, in 1946, after the war had ended, Gustave moved to Cleveland and after much praise for his creation he expanded the airline and commenced passenger service on August 6th that year. The company started launching flights from Cleveland to New York, Los Angeles via Chicago and Denver and to Miami. National grew through the addition of routes and the acquisition of other airlines. They replaced propeller planes with jets in the 1960s and entered international competition to Europe in the 1970s and across the Pacific in the 1980s. The logo of National Airlines, originally unveiled in 1949, is reminiscent of flying boxes across the skies as they first started out. The current National Airlines is the result of many airline mergers over a period of more than 40 years. The most recent merger was with Pioneer Airways on November 13, 2016. After approval of the merger, Pioneer continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of National until July 10, 2017 when both carriers' operating certificates were merged (the National certificate was kept).17 National completed the integration with Pioneer on August 8th, 2017 when their reservation systems and websites were combined, and the Pioneer Airways name and brand were officially retired.18 Predecessor carriers forming the current National include: •South-Central Airways (formed in 1928, merged into National in 1963).15 •Trans-Continental Airlines (TCA) (formed in 1931, merged into National in August 1990)1520 •Pioneer Airways (formed in 1936, merged into National in 2016) •TransAmerican (formed in 1979, merged into Pioneer in 2006) •Midwestern Airlines (formed in 1960, merged into Pioneer in 2014) • ZipJet (formed in 1972, merged into Pioneer in 2012) • Alpha Airlines (formed in 1957, merged into Pioneer in 2013) Headquarters and Offices National’s corporate headquarters are located at 1500 Louisiana St Houston, TX. National also has offices at 200 West St. in New York, NY.232425 This offices in Houston has served as National's headquarters from 1974 until 2001when National moved their headquarters back to Cleveland. When National merged with Pioneer in November, National planed to pull its Cleveland Hub and move to Detroit. When the airline left Cleveland, they moved their headquarters back to Houston and opened a branch division located in New York, NY to handle the merger and all of the Pioneer operations until the merger was completed. National will keep their New York offices and run their expanded operations from there.2627 In addition to hosting National’s corporate headquarters, Houston is also the home of National TechOps; National's Technical Operations Center, which is the airline's primary maintenance, repair and overhaul arm specializing in engines, components, airframe and line maintenance.30 National is the eighth-oldest operating airline by foundation date, and the third oldest airline still operating in the United States. Livery National's current livery, reverts back to their origins. In October of 2016 a fan created a Facebook page titled "Resurrect the National Diamond". Within weeks the page had over 45K followers and active members. National quickly became aware of the serious love and admiration of the classic symbol and decided that they would listen to their fans and bring it back. When the airline merged with Pioneer, CEO- Cin Xu thought it was a perfect time to debut the new "classic" look. Sticking with the same design, the new livery consists of two of the National diamonds on the tail. One is larger and lighter than its counterpart, which is smaller but stands out against the dark blue tail. Along with a new livery and logo, the airline also changed their font, to present the a more modern look. Re-painting is scheduled to start mid August. National's transitory livery used four colors. It featured a "Swoosh" on each of the aircraft's vertical stabilizer to refer to National’s origins as a carrier in the War, reminiscent of flying boxes across the skies as they first started out.33 The previous livery also used four colors, but a lighter shade of blue. National introduced its transitory livery in 2016. The airline took 7 months to repaint all of their aircraft into said scheme. National is currently in the process of repainting aircraft inherited from Pioneer Airways.33 Current Hubs National has seven domestic hubs and two international hubs, along with one focus city.534 National carries more passengers than any other airline at Houston-George Bush International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport35 Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport,34 New York-LaGuardia Airport,37 & Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.34 • Brussels National Airport – One of the two International Hubs for National, in conjunction with Global Alliance partner Belgian. • Charlotte Douglass International Airport– National’s newest hub. Charlotte serves as National’s Southeastern Hub. • Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport – Acquired when National moved from Cleveland after the merger with Pioneer Airways. Detroit is National's second-largest hub by number of daily flights and third largest by seats available. • Hong Kong International Airport– National’s Asian Hub. Acquired through a partnership with China Western through the Global Alliance. • Houston-George Bush International Airport – The largest hub for National Airlines, as well as its headquarters site and maintenance base. Former Headquarters and hub of South-Central Airways. • John F. Kennedy International Airport– A major international gateway hub for National. • LaGuardia International Airport – National declared LaGuardia a hub and added more daily departures from the airport in 2005, completing National’s “New York’s Airline” campaign. Former hub of ZipJet. • Los Angeles International Airport – National’s South-Pacific hub. Originally a focus city, Los Angeles became a hub when National merged with Pioneer, acquiring their gates at Terminal 4. National now operates out of Terminals, 4 and 5 along with limited flights that depart from the TBIT. LAX also acts as the airline's primary Asian gateway. • San Francisco International Airport – National’s only focus city. National is currently renovating terminal 1. • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – Acquired through the merger with Pioneer Airways, Seattle is National’s Pacific-North gateway.